


"Have I not changed at all?"

by OverTheTof



Series: Persona 5: tales of Skull and Panther [1]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: F/M, Father-Son Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-22
Updated: 2017-06-22
Packaged: 2018-11-17 09:31:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11272740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OverTheTof/pseuds/OverTheTof
Summary: "Why are you here, Ryuji?"A year after the events of the game, Ryuji decides it is time to settle things with one person: his father. What will happen when the boy will face his dad after all this time?





	"Have I not changed at all?"

**Author's Note:**

> My first fan fiction!
> 
> I've been wanting to try to write a fan fic, and Persona 5, along with its characters, turned out to be the last push I needed to jump into this world.  
> The fic is set after the events of the game, but there are no spoilers in it :)

The subway was running as usual. Not that crowded, but not completely empty, either. A young boy was sitting down, looking at his feet, silently.  
"What will I do?" he asked himself. "What is going to happen? What if he gets mad? I don't know what to do…"  
  
His train of thought was interrupted by a hand, a delicate hand that grabbed his own ones. Ryuji lifted his head and turned to his left, where Ann Takamaki, his girlfriend, was sitting next to him, concerned.  
"Ryuji, calm down. Everything's gonna be fine, I'm here with you."  
  
Ryuji barely nodded to those words and kept shaking. Then, Ann grabbed him by his shoulders and hugged him in an attempt to calm him down.  
  
"I'm here with you, Ryuji. Keep that in mind." The sound of Ann's voice calmed Ryuji a little, who looked back at her, smiling and thanking her. The subway stopped, and it was time for them to get off. They started heading out of the subway, going up the stairs and getting on the street. Ann was holding Ryuji's hand with all her strentgh, as if she wanted to tell him "I'm here, you can do this". After a five minute walk, they finally stopped in front of an apartment.  
  
"Is this the right address?" asked Ann.  
  
"Yes" answered Ryuji, looking at the name on the plate of the doorbell. "This is it."  
Ann was really concerned about the boy, so much that she gave him a little kiss on the cheek.  
  
"Don't forget that I'm here with you, okay?" He nodded and, with all the courage he could gather, pressed the doorbell. After a few seconds, they heard a grumbled "Coming!" from the other side of the door, a voice that Ryuji knew too well. The door opened, and a figure of a tall, raggedy man appeared in front of them. His hair were black and roughed, and there were some wrinkles on his familiar face.  
  
"Yes? How can I hel-" the man suddendly stopped as soon as he saw Ryuji, and a heavy silence fell on the doorway.  
  
"So it's you, Ryuji?"  
  
"H-hi, dad." It was almost two years since the last time that Ryuji and Kyosuke Sakamoto saw each other.  
  
"Come on in" said the man. His voice sounded annoyed, and that made Ryuji immediately think about all the times his father verbally abused his mother. Ann tighted the grip on Ryuji's hand, as if she knew what was going on in the boy's mind. He stared at her, who was looking back at him. Her eyes were concerned, but firm at the same time, wanting to encourage Ryuji the as best as she could. They went in the apartment, and the sight wasn't pleasant. The apartment was big, but also dark, and empty bottles of liquor were scattered around the place.  
  
"Have a sit" said Kyosuke, pointing at a sofa right in front of them "I'll get something to drink."  
  
The young couple sat down, holding each other's hands and waiting silently.  
  
"So" spoke the man, carrying some bottle of water and tea. "What brings you here, Ryuji?"  
  
Ryuji swallowed, not sure what to say, and then  
  
"You know, just wanted to see how you were doing. After all, it's been almost two years since we've last seen each other."  
  
His dad sat silently, pouring some tea.  
  
"I see. So, who's this cute girl ?"  
  
The "cute" almost startled Ryuji, he wasn't expecting his father to remember some nice words.  
  
"She's…she's my girlfriend, Ann. She goes to my school."  
  
"Pleased to meet you, Mr. Sakamoto. I'm Ann Takamaki" said the girl, trying to lighten up the mood.  
  
"Oh, so you managed to find yourself a cute girl. Not bad, I'm impressed."  
  
He was impressed? Until that last part, Ryuji thought his dad just made him a compliment, but why should he be impressed?  
  
"How's school?" asked Kyosuke  
  
"Well, school's fine, I guess. I've had my ups and downs, but I managed. It wasn't that hard. We also went to Hawaii, and it was a helluva trip."  
  
His voice was shaking a little, but he felt more confident the more he talked.  
  
"I heard abot that principal, Kobayakawa, who passed away, it was at your school, right? Damn, we sure live in a dangerous world, today." said Ryuji's father.  
The atmosphere was weird. They were talking to each other, but it was all small talk and it almost felt like both sides were afraid to mention a specific topic. After a while, Kyosuke spoke up.  
  
"So how's your mother?" And there it was: Ryuji's mom. He knew that sooner or later they'd end up talking about her, but the young blond boy was still a little nervous.  
  
"She's fine. Yeah, we went through some hard times, but now she's good. I help her with the housework and she also goes out with her friends sometimes. They usually go to the diner in Shibuya on Wednesdays, you know."  
  
"She got friends?"  
  
"Yeah. The flower shop in Shibuya started a little course on how to prepare bouqets. She signed up and now, after the lessons, she stops at the diner with the other memebers."  
  
"Ah, I didn't know that." That almost pissed Ryuji off. Of course he wouldn't know that, he abandonded them! Nontheless, Ryuji managed to keep calm and focus on the conversation.  
  
"So, how are y-"  
  
"Ryuji"  
  
A brief silence fell in the room after Kyosuke rashly interrupted his son. "Why are you here, Ryuji?"  
  
"I-I'm just here to check how you're doing, that's all."  
  
"Cut the crap, Ryuji. Why are you here? You want to show me how better your life is compared to mine?"  
  
"N-no dad. It's just that… this two years have been rough. At first I was angry at everything, but that got me nowhere. Then I met some friends, and I realized that I needed to change, to change how I lived, to change my approach towards other people. It wasn't easy, it was hard as hell. Nontheless, I managed to change, and now I have a group of amazing friends and me and Ann are together..."  
  
"So what?"interrupted his father "what do you want form me?"  
  
"We could try and fix it! Our family, I mean. We could try and start it all over, and...."  
  
"Ridiculous"  
  
Ryuji stopped after hearing that word, "ridiculous". Why was it ridiculous? His father wasn't taking him seriously?  
  
"Why would you say Ridiculous? I'm being serious here"  
  
"BECAUSE IT'S COMING FROM YOU!"  
  
Silence. Those words froze the entire apartment. "From you" Ryuji stood there, not knowing what to say  
  
"Did you even look at yourself? You, A PUNK, coming here to tell me how to live? Don't make me laugh, kid. You are and will always be a punk! It wouldn't surprise me if it turned out that it was you the one who killed the principal at your school"  
  
"How dare you..."  
  
"No, how dare YOU! Coming in my house? Teaching ME how to live? You say you got friends, but I'm ready to bet that every single one of them is a no good prick, especially this girl you came with today. Only a crazy troublemaker could stay with someone like you!"  
  
This time, the boy reacted without even thinking  
  
"DON'T YOU EVEN DARE TO SAY THAT ABOUT ANN!"  
  
Ryuji jumped from the sofa, clinging his fist towards his dad. A hand grabbed him from behind, Ann's.  
  
"Ryuji, that's enough." Said the girl with her usual calm tone. She stared at Kyosuke and began talking.  
  
"Mr. Sakamoto, Ryuji really wanted to come here in order to convince you to come back to your family. He's sincere, that I know. Reguarding me being a no good, you can think whatever you want about me, not that I would care that much about what someone like you thinks. I wanted to come here today because, since I want to be with Ryuji now and in the future, I thought it would be wise to meet his family, although it seems I was half wrong. Just meeting his mother would have been enough. It really saddens me when a parent doesn't realize how amazing his son is, and that's definetely your case, Mr. Sakamoto."  
  
Silence fell in the apartment, like it has been frozen for ages. After a while, Ann stood up, grabbing Ryuji's hand and saying "Let's get out of here, sweetie."  
  
Without a single word, they stepped out of the apartment, with only the sound of the closing door behind them. They took the subway, and got out it Shibuya. They walked to train plaza, where Ann finally spoke up first.  
  
"You all right? I mean, it was pretty important what you just tried, and I imagine the effort was quite stressing you out"  
  
Hearing how worried she was, he tried to put up his usual smile and tone.  
  
"Nah, I expected to be like this. You know I thought…"  
He suddendly stopped as he turned around towards the blond girl, realizig that she was staring at him with the most serious look she'd ever had. He stood there, looking back at her, and after a while, the fake smile vanished from his face, with tears starting to come out from his eyes. He started sobbing really loduly, and he could barely find the strenght to ask just one question  
  
"Why? Why did he have to say such things? WHY, ANN? Was it all for nothing? HAVE I NOT CHANGED AT ALL DURING THIS LAST YEAR? Am I still the…" and he suddendly stopped, since Ann quickly hugged him, holding him tight.  
  
"Don't be stupid, Ryuji. You've changed, changed so much to find a group of amazing friends, so much that I slowly fell in love with you, so much that I'm really proud of you. I can barely imagine how ward it must have been for you, sitting in there with your father saying such hars things. So don't listen to a single word he said, he's not worth your tears, baby."  
  
Ryuji sobbed even louder now, hugging Ann back.  
  
"Let it all out now. Cry all you want."  
  
And there they were, Ryuji sobbing like never before, chocking random "thank you" here and there, and Ann hugging him and petting him, wanting to protect him. "I will always be by your side, Ryuji."


End file.
